I went into Dunelm to buy a new lasagne dish and came out with bargains galore but no dish! I was distracted by a whole pile of yarn marked down to 99p per 50gram ball. I could not, of course, being a true crocheter pass anything by that is a bargain. I snatched up 13 balls each of Coats Gedifra (50% linen) marked down from £3.95 in 2 shades of dusky pink and 16 balls of Jaeger Roma (15% angora) marked down from £4.95. They had a glittering aray of fancy yarns with lurex and furry bits but I refrained as my retired life style of dog walking and chores doesn't usually run to lurex garments. I already have far too many fancy garments unworn in my wardrobe so decided to stick with the practical yarns although on scrutinising the labels I find they recommend hand wash (bummer) for all of the yarn I purchased.
I started crocheting Gedifra to a DK pattern I already had but decided it had all the attraction of a dish cloth so I am going to browse my stitch pattern book and choose a more attractive denser stitch. I liked the chevron edging of the sweater I have chosen so I will leave the beginning and just change the main body stitch. I will post a pic when I decide on the chosen stitch. It will probably have to turn into something short sleeved instead of a regular sweater shape as the yarn does not seem to have a very good yardage. One ball did about 6" on a mostly treble (UK term) with filet spaces so a closer stitch will be maybe more like 4 - 5". I will work a sleeve next and see if half the yarn will be enough for that. I am getting quite an expert at unripping ( or frogging as the US bloggers call it)
My sock knitting leather belt arrived today from Jamiesons Shetland Wool site and I am really impressed with it. I had a trial run this morning and my speed has really picked up. For years I have never knitted anything using 4 or 5 needles as I have to knit with one needle firmly wedged under my right arm which as you can appreciate is not possible with short sock needles. I remembered my father telling me that when he was stationed in the Shetland Isles during the 2nd world war that ladies used to walk along the road knitting away with a Makkin ( a leather belt with a horsehair pad) with one needle firmly wedged in it. I found this amazing site http://www.shetland-wool-brokers.zetnet.co.uk/accs.htm and found out that the ladies of the Shetland Isles still use these belts on a regular basis for their wonderful fair isle knitted yokes and fisherman seamless jumpers. I ordered one and am now happily knitting away. Sock knitting rocks! Thanks to all the amazing free patterns on Knitty.com (and those lovely ladies with sock knitting blogs in the US - Sockapalooza sites etc) I will be wearing lovely lace patterned socks this winter. I never thought anything would tempt me away from my crochet but this has. It's so addictive!
Thanks to Freecycle I am now the proud owner of a lovely filing cabinet in beige and brown and once I find a web site that does cheap hanging files I will organise all my crochet and knit patterns into one space. No more hunting about the house for that certain pattern I crocheted in 1968! I organised the loft space last month. Retirement is turning me into an organised person instead of the hobo gypsy I usually resemble. They always say creative people are the messiest so that is my usual excuse for my crochet and knit corner in the living room that looks like an explosion when I am in one of my more frantic moods. I now have stacking wicker boxes so it is getting a little tidier when I am not working on anything. The filing cabinet will now house the spare needles etc once I drag out the sewing machine and make some rolls to organise my knit pins and crochet hooks. There are some marvelous ones on the Flikr site that make me think that with a little imagination and perhaps one of my unworn skirts or dresses I could make similar rolls for my needles to keep them together in pairs. One for metal. One for bamboo. One for sets of sock needles and one for crochet hooks. Gosh that's a lot of sewing, perhaps I had better buy a couple of metres of fabric from the market!
No comments:
Post a Comment